1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a weather strip for a door glass (hereinafter will be called weather strip) which is employed in a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a hardtop-typed motor vehicle provided with frameless doors, a weather strip is mounted along a door opening of a vehicle body. When the door is closed, the outer periphery of the door glass is pressed against the weather strip to seal a space between the door glass and the vehicle body.
In a motor vehicle provided with door frames, a weather strip of the same kind as the above-described weather strip is mounted along the inner periphery of a door frame. When the door glass is closed, the outer periphery of the door glass is pressed against the weather strip.
FIG. 9 illustrates a conventional weather strip of this kind. A weather strip 5 is retained by a retainer 4 along a door opening of a vehicle body, which is to be closed by a door glass 6. The weather strip 5 is provided with a hollow seal portion of which a seal wall 52 is opposed to an end edge of the door glass 6. When the door glass 6 is closed, the seal wall 52 is pressed upward by the end edge of the door glass 6.
The weather strip 5 is required to exhibit excellent sealing performance, that is excellent waterproof performance, and excellent sound-insulating performance. The sealing performance is considered to be improved by increasing the pressure-contacting force of the door glass 6 to the seal wall 52, or increasing the contacting area in which the end edge of the door glass is covered with the seal wall 52.
The above-described pressure-contacting force can be increased by making the thickness of the seal wall 52, which is pressed upward by the door glass 6 large to increase the flexural stiffness thereof. However, as the pressure-contacting force is increased, the door glass closing force is increased undesirably.
The above-described contacting area can be increased by making the whole of the seal wall 52 thin so as to be easily deformed, and forming the seal wall 52 not tightly but loosely. However, in this case, because of the decrease in thickness of the seal wall 52, the sufficient sealing performance cannot be obtained.
FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate another example of the conventional weather strip mounted along the door frame. The weather strip 5 is composed of a base portion 51 formed from solid rubber, and a seal wall 52 formed from sponge rubber. The base portion 51 has a downward opening U-shaped cross section, and is composed of a bottom wall 511 and side walls 512, 513. A retaining portion 50 of an upward opening U-shaped cross section is integrally formed with the side wall 512. This retaining portion 50 functions as a trim, too.
The seal wall 52 is bent at its central portion in the widthwise direction of the vehicle body so as to have a L-shaped cross section thereby to form a hollow body with the base portion 51. The seal wall 52 is composed of an outer half portion 52a and an inner half portion 52b of which the thickness is larger than that of the outer half portion 52a. The weather strip 5 having the above-described structure is mounted on a flange 71 of a door frame 7 in the retaining portion 50.
When the door glass 6 is guided upward to fully close the door opening as shown in FIG. 11, the bent portion of the seal wall 52 does not come in contact with the inner side surface of the door glass 6 to generate a space 9.
In the viewpoint of the sealing performance and the sound-insulating performance, it is desired that the end edge of the door glass 6 is completely covered with the seal wall 52 without any generation of such a space 9.
Moreover, the fully closed position of the end edge of the previously mounted door glass 6 is inevitably scattered a little in each car. In the case of the fully-closed position being high, the outer half portion 52a of the seal wall 52 is more strongly pressed upward by the door glass 6 while the thicker inner half portion 52b is not deformed thereby. This results in the side wall 513 of the base portion 51, to which one end of the outer half portion 52a is connected, being pulled in the direction of the inside of the vehicle body so that a tip end of the outer side wall 513 presses the door glass 6 inwardly. Therefore, the generation of the space 9 can be prevented, but the discontinuity in the outer surfaces of the door frame 7 and the door glass 6 becomes large.
Recently, it has been required to continue the outer surfaces of the respective vehicle body, door frame and door glass without any irregularities. Under these circumstances, the above-described large discontinuity is undesirable.